Counter-event to Jordan Peterson will be right across the street
What to do Friday night in Hamilton? Take in the Fringe Festival?
Or go hear the messianic musings of Jordan Peterson? Wheyfaced with grievance, he carries into Hamilton the crucifix of his hetero-male, free speech persecution complex (the U of T professor had been asked to call transgender individuals — gasp — “they”: the pronominal audacity of it).
FirstOntario Concert Hall is his latest station of the cross- ... continent lecture carousel he always seems to be on.
Now there’s another choice. Hamilton group Queers Against Hate has organized a counterevent to Peterson’s appearance.
Called Countering Peterson: Teach-In and Gathering, it happens today, starting 6:30 p.m., at city hall outdoor plaza and promises to push back at what QAH calls Peterson’s “misinformation” about transgender issues, feminism, race and much else. Organizers plan to do so with educational tools, experts in areas like linguistics and ideology, informal conversation and discussions of safe ways to counter hateful rhetoric.
“After the recent disruptions at Hamilton Pride, it is incredibly important that Hamilton communities come together to show support and solidarity with Hamilton’s queer and trans communities,” says Jyssika Russell, event organizer and program co-ordinator of speqtrum Hamilton, a youth-led program creating skillsharing and community building opportunities for queer, trans and two-spirit youth.
(The disruptions, she says, were by a group of a dozen or so people who’ve been using noisemakers and hate-shouting to interrupt pride events in the area.)
“This counter-event is about demonstrating why we are so concerned about Jordan Peterson’s rhetoric, and how he contributes to a growing tide of hate and distrust of not only queer and trans communities, but also women and people of colour.”
“We are fully in support of them (Queers Against Hate and their counter-event),” says Lenore Lukasik-Foss, who is part of another effort — a letter by Woman Abuse Working Group.
The letter, which has been sent to FirstOntario Concert Hall, asks not for the cancellation of Peterson’s appearance but for a consideration of the group’s concern that Peterson’s “messages promote hate and bigotry.”
“We are trying to expand the conversation,” says LukasikFoss of Woman Abuse Working Group.
The letter notes specifically that Peterson, in an interview, once rationalized the actions of the man who mowed people down with his van in Toronto earlier this year, saying he was “angry at God, because women were rejecting him. The cure for that is enforced monogamy.”
The letter goes on to suggest that Hamilton take a cue from other communities where Peterson’s appearances have been scorned. “... as recently as a week ago, Durham City Council issued a statement calling on the Durham community to ‘reject and resist bigotry wherever we encounter it’ in response to Peterson performing at the Durham Performing Arts Centre. The Citadel Theatre in Edmonton also opted to cancel Peterson’s event in February 2018.”
Countering Peterson: Teach-In and Gathering, says Russell, will feature a linguistics professor who will address the use of “they” as a singular pronoun and a political science professor who will address the misuse by people
like Peterson of phrases such as postmodern and neo-Marxism.”
But mostly, she says, the event will bring together “performers, public educators, city councillors, and Hamiltonians ... to share music, food, and thoughts at City Hall. We can learn, educate, and stand for our rights while also having fun. Anyone is welcome.
“We want all of Hamilton to hear what we have to say.”